As for public toilets, they too often fail people, especially the vulnerable and marginalized, either because they don’t exist or because they don’t accommodate all that people might need or want to do in them (Wald, 174).
Any long-time VPL blog readers will find it no surprise that I immediately placed on hold and subsequently devoured* Pipe Dreams: The urgent global quest to transform the toilet within a couple days of receiving it. But if you haven’t (yet) had the pleasure(?) of reading my enthusiastic gushing about the alimentary canal and writing probably altogether too many times the word “intestine” in any one paragraph… just know that an entire book dedicated to toilets is to me essentially a siren call (not toilet humour, mind you – though Pipe Dreams is fun to read and at times funny, and the book is not completely without puns – but Wald focuses much more on topics such as the social consequences of water flushing toilets and the sewers they require, the lack of toilets in many parts of the world – including within the U.S.! – as well as serious considerations on the topic of what to do with all that urine and fecal matter, because we’re not about to stop production anytime soon!).
So if you’ve never thought too much about toilets until you found yourself out about town**, on a hike, or maybe on a roadtrip, desperately trying to recall where the last public toilet (or more likely, gas station) was, or conjecturing whether one will come up soon, join us as we embark upon this journey into toilets, the sewers, and so many different ways to manage fecal sludge and urine that you never knew you wanted to learn about, all on the quest for Loo-topia!
